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May ABJ Oliver article

The May ABJ article on, among other things, bee exposure to pesticides written by Randy Oliver is a real "must read". Among his statements:

...."so long as we keep blatantly using illegal mite treatments, our pleas to regulators to crack down on misuse of agricultural pesticides by farmers are gutted from the get go-if we want to talk the talk, we gotta walk the walk. "

And this:

"I often hear it would be "impossible" to do without the illegal off-label treatments. The reality is that anything seems impossible until you just start doing it...........I tried managing my operation without synthetic miticides over a decade ago, and never felt the need to go back.......sice then we have tripled the size of our operation......and take strong colonies to the almonds each year"

And this in regards to the misuse of "off label" synthetic miticides:

"...beekeepers now have no excuse (for using them) with so many legal treatments for varroa"

Rock on Randy!!!!! Beekeepers have the tools available to raise strong hives that produce honey without the risk of chemical residues. Let's all work together to protect the wholesome image that honey still enjoys in the marketplace.

"People will generally accept facts as truth only if the facts agree with what they already believe."- Andy Rooney

Re: May ABJ Oliver article

A very good article, indeed. Though I'm just a fledling hobbiest (sorry to intrude) the knowledge and wisdom shared in the article reaches *all* classes of beekeepers. Good show giving the forum a "heads'up" on it, Jim. Sometimes folks browse over good articles to fast...for me, anything from Randy Oliver deserves a slow read.

Re: May ABJ Oliver article

Until you figure the cost, which is my Main concern. When the legal process is followed the cost is $ 2.00 or more, when done using old methods cost is .17 per application . So what value is added by the EPA's approval process except to separate profit out of our companies.

Re: May ABJ Oliver article

I take it by this thread that people are not counting the use of OA, which is off-label? Unless there's money to be made on a treatment, it's not going to be approved. Formic (liquid) works, OA works, but niether is approved.

Re: May ABJ Oliver article

Originally Posted by LSPender

Until you figure the cost, which is my Main concern. When the legal process is followed the cost is $ 2.00 or more, when done using old methods cost is .17 per application . So what value is added by the EPA's approval process except to separate profit out of our companies.

the old method may have been .17, but either from Randy's article or one of his posts on bee-l, he said that the govt. wasn't enforcing the laws because it would hurt the commercial beeks. now that there is a legal method getting caught using the illegal method could get very expensive. if I remember correctly from my pesticide applicators lic.
up to 10,000 per application per occurance. how many yards do you have? and I think I figured out the cost at around $6 dollars a hive not including applying, apiguard and Maqs are about half that, so I see no need to use it.

mike syracuse ny
I went to bed mean, and woke up meaner. Marshal Dillon

Re: May ABJ Oliver article

Originally Posted by Wisnewbee

I take it by this thread that people are not counting the use of OA, which is off-label?

Yup. The way I see it is that the FDA is all about registering and approving the use of products. Not much money to be made for any company to go through the approval process to develop a product that is so easily and cheaply copied. I know of no instance where OA has caused any residue problems in honey or any contamination of bee equipment as a result of its use. The only downsides that I have ever observed are that a dribble can be a bit harsh on a small hive in cold temperatures and I don't believe that it is of much value when bees are actively brooding. There is really no comparison between that and some of the shop towel applications of Fluvalinate, Amitraz and a few others chemicals that tend to show up in random sampling of bee hives. But OA aside there are still lots of safe and effective products out there available to beekeepers in addition to hive manipulations that are all highly effective in the battle against varroa.

"People will generally accept facts as truth only if the facts agree with what they already believe."- Andy Rooney